Study: Unexpected pregnancy affects mother's health after childbirth

By taking into account prenatal data, a study by the University of the Basque Country used a new method to analyze the physical and mental effects of unintended pregnancies on mothers.

A study by Dr. Anna Barbuscia concluded that the deterioration of women's general health after childbirth is more pronounced in cases where the pregnancy is unplanned.

Unplanned pregnancies

According to "Medical Express", by analyzing data before and after childbirth, the study obtained more conclusive results than those obtained by other research.

Although the number of unexpected pregnancies has decreased in recent decades, the percentage of unplanned pregnancies today is estimated at no more than 23% worldwide.

It is noteworthy that the figures are similar in countries where the use of contraception is high.

The new research analyzed data from more than 11,500 French mothers, and it turned out that 20% of them had an unplanned pregnancy.

The postpartum data showed that “all mothers experience a deterioration in health after childbirth, and that the deterioration is more pronounced in cases where they did not intend to give birth.”

Pregnancy before the age of 30

The results also showed that during the first two years after childbirth, women under the age of 30 experience a more severe deterioration than older women.

“Our interpretation is that unexpected pregnancies can be more destabilizing for younger women, because their emotional and functional situation tends to be more precarious: some are studying, some do not have stable jobs,” Barbuscia said.

However, the long-term perspective revealed that, thanks to their better initial health, they recover more easily than those who become mothers after the age of 30.”